Bruce Wayne: The Spectre of Vengeance
by gammaxmen80
Summary: What if Bruce Wayne died and became the Spectre?


FIC: Bruce Wayne: The Spirit of Vengeance: Prelude  
  
| |  
  
One night in Gotham City, 25 year old Bruce Wayne was walking home  
  
with his parents, arguing.  
  
"No, Father, I'll decide what I want to. I'm not twelve year old  
  
anymore. I'm an adult."  
  
"You'll regret it, Bruce. Becoming a police officer wasn't what I  
  
wanted for you when I raised you."  
  
"But you're a doctor, Father! And you help others! Shouldn't I do the  
  
same thing?"  
  
  
  
"Yes, but you know it's dangerous here in Gotham. I worry that you  
  
might be killed!"  
  
"Killed, Doc," a raspy voice chuckled, "Is exactly what yer gonna be  
  
if you don't give with the goodies!"  
  
A man in a cap stepped out of the shadows with a gun.  
  
"You animal! Get away from my family or--!"  
  
"Or ya could die!" He sneered, shooting him in the chest.  
  
He quickly shot Martha Wayne in the chest, too.  
  
"You bast--" he lunged, but he got shot in the shoulder for his  
  
trouble.  
  
As Bruce fell onto his knees, the gunman aimed his gun at Bruce's  
  
head.  
  
"Nothin' personal, kid. Was jus' followin'orders."  
  
Then he shot Bruce Wayne in the head.  
  
  
  
Suddenly Bruce Wayne found himself...somewhere else. He covered his  
  
ears, hearing deafening screams. He look around.  
  
Bruce found himself atop on a hill....surrounded by naked, restless  
  
people screaming, "Avenge me!"  
  
"BRUCE WAYNE," a booming voice suddenly rumbled from nowhere, "THOU  
  
ARE IN LIMBO, THE REALM WHERE THE MURDERED DEAD RESIDES!"  
  
"What about my parents?!?" Bruce shouted back, enraged, "What kind of  
  
God would allow my parents to be murdered? What kind of God would  
  
allow ME to be murdered? Where is the justice?!"  
  
"THIS IS NOT FOR YOU TO DECIDE,BRUCE WAYNE," the voice replied.  
  
"No?! Then why don't I see my parents among the dead here?! Where are  
  
they? Where are my parents?!"  
  
"THEIR SOULS HAS BEEN CAPTURED BY AN EVIL BEING WHOSE LAUGHTER IS  
  
RESERVED SOLELY FOR BLOOD AND PAIN."  
  
"Then send me back! My parents must be avenged--"  
  
"IS THIS WHAT YOU DESIRE, BRUCE WAYNE? KNOW THEN, THAT YOU RISK  
  
LOSING PARADISE IN EXCHANGE FOR VENGEANCE. YOUR MISSION, THEN, SHALL  
  
BE TO CONFRONT AND COMPREHEND EVIL. TO CARRY THE VENGEANCE OF HEAVEN  
  
TO EARTH...AND RID ALL EVIL FROM THE MORTAL WORLD...A TASK YOU SHALL  
  
ULTIMATELY FAIL."  
  
And Bruce Wayne was gone from the hill.  
  
  
  
Chapter One  
  
| |  
  
Bruce Wayne found himself standing over where he died with a bullet  
  
in his head.  
  
"No one must know that Bruce Wayne is truly dead. Henceforth, let my  
  
mortal body be dust!"  
  
Bruce waved a hand over his corpse and it dissolved into dust.  
  
He turned to his parents' bodies, "Mother... Father...I shall never  
  
rest until your souls are free. Until the very being who decreed that  
  
the spirit of Bruce Wayne must remain to rid all evil from existence,  
  
starting with the foul murderer who has spilt our blood."  
  
Suddenly lightning brightened the night sky, as a dark mist seemed to  
  
surround Bruce.  
  
"I shall rest when my thrist for vengeance is sated."  
  
The black mist had now engulfed Bruce Wayne.  
  
"But until then, I shall not be Bruce Wayne any longer when the scent  
  
of blood is near when these the slain cry vengeance for are near. So  
  
swears..."  
  
The black mist exploded, revealing a figure clad in a tattered, black  
  
cloak and hood, with a cross on his chest, his body likewise clad in  
  
black, his fingernail extended and turned black. His eyes beneath the  
  
hood becoming the eyes of death, as skulls replaced Bruce Wayne's  
  
pupils.  
  
"THE SPECTRE!"  
  
He dissolved into black mist, his voice fading into the  
  
night, "Joseph Chill, you have the smell of blood on you, and it is  
  
strong, but I shall find you, whether in the land of the living or  
  
the land of the dead, and you will face the Judgment of God!"  
  
Lightning again struck through the night sky, signaling the beginning  
  
of a storm.  
  
  
  
Chapter Two  
  
| |  
  
The Spectre flew over Gotham City, following the scent of spilled  
  
blood.  
  
Suddenly Bruce Wayne, the new host to the Spectre Force, stopped at a  
  
warehouse building.  
  
The assassin is in there, he thought, and I sense that he's taken  
  
satisifaction in a task well done...  
  
The skulls in his eyes became more visible in the shadows cast by his  
  
hood.  
  
"A satisifaction that will be replaced with fear."  
  
Inside, Joe Chill took out the bullets he managed to pull out of the  
  
Waynes' hearts before the cops arrived.  
  
Suddenly he heard laughter echoing in the room.  
  
"Ah, my loyal dolt!" An image of a demonic looking clown appeared  
  
before the assassin, "I see that you have the souls I require for the  
  
spell that will set me free from this accursed dimension that was my  
  
prison since that cursed entity called the Spectre banished me! But I  
  
will have my revenge! Since the Spectre is a servant of God Himself,  
  
I shall raze everything he has ever created, starting with Earth, and  
  
then I shall open the gates of Hell and let every murderer, sinner,  
  
and rapist out, and they shall ravage Mankind till there is no  
  
vestiges left of it! And I shall do it with laughter!"  
  
Suddenly a voice boomed, "YOU! YOU HAVE SLAIN THESE WHO HAVE DONE  
  
NOTHING TO DESERVE BEING SLAIN. YOU HAVE SLAIN ME! IN RETURN FOR  
  
BLOOD SPILT IN MURDER, YOURS SHALL BE SPILT IN REVENGE!"  
  
"Who dares distrubs the amusement of the Demon Joker?" He snarled,  
  
while his smile never left  
  
"I---THE SPECTRE, AVATAR OF HEAVENLY VENGEANCE!"  
  
"Ah! So another one has taken the mantle of the misbegotten ghost who  
  
has imprisoned me to this cursed prison of a dimension! Well met, old  
  
and new foe... and PERISH well!"  
  
Suddenly the Spectre was taken unaware as Joe Chill blasted him from  
  
behind.  
  
The Demon Joker cackled, "In exchange for providing me with the means  
  
in which to free me from my imprisonment, as well as serving me, I  
  
have granted him power... sorcerous power, in which he had thought  
  
that would improve his pathetic excuse of an existence! Power that  
  
should be enough to kill even YOU!"  
  
  
  
"WHATEVER THIS DEMON HAS PAID YOU, CHILL, WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH TO  
  
ESCAPE GOD'S JUDGMENT THAT AWAITS YOU! JUDGMENT I SHALL SEND YOU TO!"  
  
He met Chill's blast with a blast of his own. A blast that increased  
  
with every moment.  
  
"N-no! It can't be! Y-you can't beat me! The Demon Joker promised me!"  
  
"DEALS WITH DEVILS, MURDERER," The Spectre growled, "NEVER PAY."  
  
Chill backstepped, trying his best to match the Spectre's power, but  
  
it wasn't even enough. Not by a long shot.  
  
The Spectre advanced upon his parents' killer, "YOU HAVE TAKEN THESE  
  
I LOVED FROM ME, AND YOU SHALL BE TAKEN!"  
  
With a final blast, Chill's last defense was taken away.  
  
The Spectre towered over the murderer. "Before you die, give me the  
  
bullets with my parents' spirits."  
  
Chill realized that he still have the bullets, and he raised his head  
  
to look into the Spectre's eyes.  
  
"Go to hell, freak." and he threw the bullets towards a portal that  
  
suddenly opened up.  
  
"NO!" The Spectre screamed, trying to get to the portal, but he was  
  
too late. The portal closed.  
  
He whirled to glare hatefully at Chill.  
  
"YOU SHALL DIE FOR THIS!"  
  
Suddenly, before Chill could reply, the Spectre's eyes glow green,  
  
and the murderer screamed in agony as his flesh started smoking and  
  
melting, till all that was left of him was his skeleton, vital  
  
organs, and blood.  
  
The Spectre turned to confront the image of the Demon Joker, who had  
  
a smug look on his face, and in his hand... two bullets.  
  
"Once I have all the souls I require, ghost, I will return to this  
  
mortal plane, and I will start with destroying the city you love so,  
  
and I will continue ripping apart every creation your Master has. And  
  
then I will laugh in your face before I undo your existence."  
  
  
  
The Spectre seethed with rage as he watched the image dissolving into  
  
nothingness, his laughter echoing, roaring in his dead ears.  
  
And outside... lightning exploded in the sky...and rain turned to a  
  
storm... as if the heavens itself is crying out in rage.  
  
  
  
To be continued... 


End file.
